Tonight begins Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day. While every day we carry the religious imperative to never forget and to honor the memories of those who perished, Yom HaShoah each year is a day dedicated to sacred memory as we reflect on both on the enormity of our losses and highlight the value every precious soul.
Obviously, this year, we are unable to gather together physically to accomplish this goal: to perpetuate their memory or to honor those who survived and have worked to make a better world for all of us. Nonetheless, I invite you to join me and mark Yom HaShoah with the necessary moral and religious solemnity it deserves.
Below are a number of resources I have assembled to help us accomplish this lofty and often daunting goal.
(1) Last year, our very own Bumi Gelb shared his own story and personal testimony as part of an inter-generational conversation with his great-granddaughter, Tehila.
You can watch both Bumi's interview and conversation with Tehila here. Also, you can read a transcript of Bumi's prepared remarks here.
(3) Nationally, the Jewish Federations of North America is running A Special Virtual Ritual of Remembrance: Light From the Darkness. Modeled on the Pesah Seder, this will be an evening filled with song and story helping us fulfill the responsibility that survivors have entrusted to us. To join and register, click here.
(4) Yeshiva University is presenting a virtual Yom HaShoah Commemoration tonight featuring Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter, Dr. Moshe Avital and others. To register, click here.
(5) The World Mizrachi Moment is hosting an all-day live stream of Yom HaShoah programming featuring Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Alan Dershowitz, Rabbi Hanoch Teller and many others. Click here to join.
